Metro Vancouver’s mayors voted unanimously yesterday to ask that the provincial government use funds from the carbon and gas taxes for regional transportation.
The 21-member Mayor’s Council On Regional Transportation, which is headed by Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, also announced it won’t support further increases in property taxes, which are used to fund municipal services.
“We need to come up with sustainable and predictable revenue sources in order to ensure that we have a fully funded and stable TransLink,” said Watts at a meeting in Burnaby.
“We want the provincial government to dedicate the funds it receives from the carbon tax to … public transit.”
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said the region’s transportation infrastructure is in “urgent” need of investment from the provincial and federal governments.
“Municipalities … simply don’t have the financial resources to fund the transportation expansion our region needs,” he said.
TransLink needs to boost its revenue by roughly $450 million to meet growing infrastructure demands.
